


friday, i'm in love

by arashiyama (harukatenoh)



Category: World Trigger (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Feelings Realization, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Obliviousness, Polyamory Negotiations, the general dumbness associated w 17 y/o boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2019-09-24 17:53:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17105342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harukatenoh/pseuds/arashiyama
Summary: To Izumi, love is like a good rank battle: there's a strong sense of competition, whoever makes the first strike usually wins, and Yoneya is involved somehow.To Miwa, love is none of those things. Except for the last point.Yoneya's just trying his best.





	1. saturday

**Author's Note:**

> its Not Arajin or Arajin Related....... unusual content coming from ao3 user harukatenoh aka arashiyama

There is knocking on the door. At first, it is a very respectable amount of knocks, at a very respectable volume. 

Shuuji leaves one of his more social teammates to answer it.

He hears no movement. His eyes don’t stray from the laptop in front of him, with one of his unit’s old matches playing, but he can hear as the knocking stops and assumes the person had given up.

Then, it begins again. 

And again. 

And again.

What had once been a respectable knock becomes  _ annoying _ in both amount and volume, and Shuuji realizes that the person knocking is increasing both the volume of the knocks and the speed at a surprisingly consistent amount. It might’ve been impressive if it hadn’t been so damn annoying. 

With a groan, he comes to the conclusion that all of his teammates are out or sleeping, and that it is his call of duty to answer the door. Thinking of it as duty makes it easier to bear shifting off of the couch and trudging towards the door, but not by much.

When he reaches the door, he throws it open. 

The perpetrator stands, hand poised as if he had been ready to launch into another incessant bout of knocking, and has the gall to look surprised that his irritating assault on the door had yielded results. 

The sight of him sends Shuuji’s already low mood plummeting even more.

“Ah,” Izumi says, withdrawing his hand and fixing Shuuji with a smile. “Hello, Miwa. Is Yoneya in?”

Shuuji has to look over his shoulder and scan his operations room to answer this. As he thought, it is devoid of life except for a peacefully napping Narasaka.

“No,” he replies, then tacking on a ”sorry,” as a last minute attempt at being polite to his best friend’s best friend and, someone who is technically his superior in Border. 

It’s mostly out of consideration for Yousuke. Shuuji has never cared much for respecting his superiors.

Izumi groans. “Damn, that slippery bastard. If you see him, tell him he still owes me lunch. Thanks, Miwa,” and like that, Izumi is storming off, his muttering about how he’s going to wring his lunch out of Yoneya at any cost belied by the grin on his face. Shuuji feels more weary even thinking about what will happen when Izumi finally finds his wayward best friend.

He turns around, the door behind him shutting with a satisfying click. 

He catches movement from inside Tsukimi’s room.

Looking awfully like a convict on the run from the law—and he might as well be, matters of food are taken very seriously among Border’s members—Yoneya Yousuke emerges from behind the wall and gives Shuuji a casual wave.

Shuuji, with years of dealing with Yousuke under his belt, simply gives him a look. 

Yousuke, with years of dealing with Shuuji under his belt, simply gives him a grin.

“Thanks for the cover, Shuuji!” Yousuke sings, moving into the room to throw an arm around Shuuji. Shuuji deftly sidesteps and eyes Narasaka, gauging how loud he’s allowed to be.

“I refuse to harbour a criminal in my operations room,” Shuuji says flatly. Yousuke’s grin doesn’t drop, nor do his attempts to put his arm around Shuuji.

“I have committed no crime. You... have no evidence!” Yousuke puts the pause in for dramatic effect, finally wrangling Shuuji into a paltry attempt at a vague gesture of camaraderie. Shuuji, defeated, simply lets Yousuke pull him closer.

“You’re avoiding Izumi because you don’t want to buy him lunch. That’s evasion. Which is a crime.” Shuuji isn’t exactly sure why he’s playing along with this, but Yousuke has always had a habit of pulling Shuuji into his bullshit.

“That only counts if it’s tax evasion,” Yousuke points out, his voice somewhere between warbly and reassuring.

Shuuji wants to say something like  _ that’s the tax you pay for Izumi’s friendship _ , but he knows that that comment is both pushing it and borne out of something irrational anyway.

Instead, he says “Just go buy him lunch. I’m too busy for this, I’m watching match logs.” 

His laptop is almost out of battery, he thinks. It’s not a good excuse, but anything to get Yousuke and his Izumi preoccupation away.

Yousuke sighs, slumping most of his weight onto Shuuji dramatically. It doesn’t last long, and soon he’s pulling away with another dramatic sigh. 

Shuuji might miss his presence. He doesn’t know. Maybe he’s just cold; Yousuke is a space heater of unrivalled quality.

“Alright, alright,” Yousuke says, stretching out his limbs with an expression like he’s off to wage war. Knowing Izumi, he probably is. “Say, after I take care of Izumi, want to go a few rounds with me?”

Shuuji and Yousuke haven’t had any solo battles recently, they’ve been more focused on working together. Still, there is merit in fighting against each other; it allows you to take a different perspective on your partner’s style. It’s a pretty good idea.

“... Maybe.”

Just because it’s a good idea doesn’t mean Shuuji is going to encourage Yousuke any more than necessary. If Yousuke had his way, he would be sleeping and eating in the solo rank battle area.

Yousuke, not even acknowledging the answer, paces the room in a flurry, thinking out loud about possible locations Izumi would be in, all the while with a familiar grin on his face. 

It makes Shuuji’s mood drop even more, and then it drops as far down as it can possibly go when Yousuke finally leaves. 

Shuuji’s pretty sure he’s reached mood rock-bottom, that there can’t be any way he could feel lower, when life makes him eat his words.

“Ah, Shuuji!”

Jin pokes his head around the open entrance of his operations room, quite similar to how Shuuji imagines the grim reaper will come for him one day. He snarls on instinct, his face twisted into a grimace as he glares at Jin.

He wonders how quickly he can get to the door and slam it in Jin’s face. Probably not quickly enough. Jin would dodge. Doesn’t stop him from wanting to do it, though.

“Did Yoneya just leave?” Jin asks. Shuuji, on sheer principle, doesn’t want to answer, but it’s an innocent question. He gives a stiff nod. 

Jin nods back knowingly. Whatever he knows, Shuuji doesn’t want anything to do with it. “You should chase after him, Shuuji. The future is yours for the deciding, you know!”

Shuuji has absolutely no idea what Jin means by that. He’s of the strong belief that a lot of the stuff that comes out of Jin’s mouth is pure bullshit, but he admits, this is something of a new level.

Jin is unperturbed by Shuuji’s silence. He seems more spurred on by it, if anything, because he pulls himself a little more into the doorway, straightens his posture and says “I mean it! You shouldn’t let him get away, Shuuji, my side effect te—”

Shuuji, as he suspected, can’t reach the door quickly enough to close it in Jin’s face, but the resounding thud it makes as it slams shut is good enough. Especially when coupled with the silence that follows after. 

Blissful, Jin-free silence.

He locks the door in spite, and turns around. From the couch, Narasaka is staring up at him with a sleepy, but decidedly sympathetic expression. 

Shuuji has always appreciated Narasaka. He’s quiet and takes things seriously, traits that are a pretty rare commodities in Border.

His teammate stands up from the couch, giving a small yawn, and pats the space that he just left vacant.

“Maybe you should get some sleep,” Narasaka offers in his ever reasonable tone. 

Shuuji considers it, and considers it a good idea. He’s not exactly sure what time he slept last night, but he knows that his alarm had rung too soon when it had. He rubs at his eyes, attempting to loosen some of the distress he knows is showing on his expression, and slumps down on the couch.

Sleep, for once, comes easily.

* * *

 

When Shuuji wakes up, he’s aware of a warmth surrounding him. He identifies it as a blanket eventually, but for a brief few seconds he’s reminded vividly of the warmth he had felt when Yousuke had been pressed up to him, arm around his neck.

He blinks his eyes open, unwilling to leave the grasps of sleep now that he’s finally found them again, and sees a figure sitting at the table in front of him. A few more blinks, and his vision clears enough to see that it’s Yousuke.

It’s a strange sight to see him in their operations room; Shuuji wasn’t lying when he said that Yousuke would sleep and eat in the solo rank area if he could. He has his legs propped up on the table, and he’s reading some book idly. The lighting in the room isn’t particularly flattering, but Shuuji is still struck with how handsome he looks in that moment, eyes alert in concentration even when the rest of him sits relaxed.

Shuuji sits up, blaming any heat he feels on the blanket that was laid on him while he was sleeping.

Yousuke notices the movement and turns to Shuuji with an easy smile on his face; one that makes Shuuji burn even hotter underneath the heavy cloth.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Yousuke teases. Shuuji knows plainly that it isn’t morning but the comment makes him check the clock regardless. 

It’s a little past four now; hours since Izumi had dropped by and since Shuuji had promised Yousuke a solo battle. He remembers that they have a patrol coming up soon; there isn’t going to be any time for their matches.

“We didn’t have any battles,” Shuuji murmurs. “You should’ve woken me up.”

He’s maybe a little disappointed. Mostly because he had slept so long, and wasted so much time. He could’ve been doing so many other things in those hours, if not having some matches with Yousuke then studying, strategizing, improving.

“Nah,” is all Yousuke says, that smile still fixed on his face and directed at Shuuji. “You were scaring the C-ranks, with your sleep deprived zombie look. Now, you’re back to your handsome self.”

Shuuji is absolutely not going to focus on the fact that Yousuke had just called him handsome. He just isn’t. Instead, he’s going to put a practiced glower on his face and make some comment about how the C-ranks need to toughen up anyway, and definitely not think about Yousuke calling him handsome.

He’s too tired for this. 


	2. saturday/sunday

“Ah, Izumi-senpai. I was looking for you,” Kyousuke waves the approaching figure over. Izumi shifts his trajectory to walk—skip, almost, if Kyousuke is being accurate—over to him, hands in his pockets and a satisfied grin on his face. Kyousuke knows that type of grin very well; it’s the type that heeds trouble. 

He feels a brief spark concern before concluding that whatever trouble Izumi had caused or is about to cause probably has nothing to do with him.

“What’s up, Kyousuke?” Izumi asks.

Kyousuke offers up the flyer he had been handing out to other Border members, advertising a new café opening up in the city. He was offered a job waiting there, as well as getting recruited to promote for the grand opening, and he knows just how to pull Izumi in.

“This new café is opening tomorrow. According to reviews of stores in other cities, they have some of the best orange cakes,” he says, watching Izumi’s eyes light up at the mention of his favourite fruit. Hook, line and sinker.

“Are you working there now, Kyousuke?” Izumi asks, taking the flyer and flipping through it with eager hands.

Kyousuke nods at first, but Izumi’s attention is clearly not on him, so he makes a hum of agreement instead.

“I’ll be there!” Izumi announces, acting like it’s something that should surprise Kyousuke. It doesn’t, but he gives Izumi a pleased smile anyway.

“Bring some friends,” he instructs. Izumi nods happily, then Kyousuke thinks to add: “And don’t forget your wallet like last time,”

Izumi scrunches up his face, reaching over to ruffle Kyousuke’s hair and lecturing him on respect for his elders. Nevermind that Izumi hasn’t acted like an elder around Kyousuke once in his life; it’s the effect of a seventeen-year-old younger brother hanging out with a sixteen-year-old older brother.

Soon Izumi is running off again, shouting his goodbyes as he goes to track down whoever he had wanted to invite. Kyousuke catches himself before he yells back some kind of warning on running around corridors, but honestly, the way Izumi skids around them would concern anyone.

And it does, when he hears Director Shinoda’s distinct voice ring out, telling Izumi to slow down before he breaks a leg.

“Don’t worry Director! I’m in my trion body!”

* * *

 

When Kyousuke catches sight of Izumi the next day at the opening, he’s strolling into the café at two pm on the dot, with Yoneya in tow. It’s surprising; Kyousuke had assumed that Izumi would be dragging more of a crowd along, with how well he got along with most people in Border. At the very least, he had expected to see Midorikawa with them, but it’s just Izumi and Yoneya today. 

Idly, Kyousuke wonders if Izumi saw the tagline on the flyer advertising the café as the hottest new spot for couples.

But then again, Izumi was mostly focused on the food; there might be nothing going on. 

Nobody can really be sure, when it comes to those two.

Kyousuke watches as they find a table by the back of the café, with more seclusion than the tables at the front offer. Izumi catches his eye as he’s watching and waves him over enthusiastically, characteristic smirk on his face. Kyousuke is somewhat reluctant to go over, even though it is his job to wait on people. 

The way Izumi is grinning just can’t bode well.

“Kyousuke! Hey! Hey!” Izumi shouts, even though Kyousuke is already rapidly approaching their table. “You look good in that uniform, dude.”

Yoneya looks up from where he had been studying the menu to cast a critical eye over Kyousuke. 

Perhaps too critical; Kyousuke doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve this level of scrutiny from Yoneya, but it’s vaguely terrifying. It reminds him of the times he damaged his trigger and Usami got that intense look in her eye when he reported it.

Yeah, he can see the family resemblance.

“Hey, have you decided?” Izumi directs this question to Yoneya, and it seems to break the boy out of his intense judgement of Kyousuke and his outfit. 

With a shake of his head, Yoneya says “Nah, not yet,”. Then, like he just remembered himself after borderline glaring at Kyousuke for a good moment, he turns to Kyousuke and sheepishly asks “Uh, any recommendations?”

Kyousuke  _ hmms _ , running through his mind to see if he knows anything about Yoneya’s preferences. 

As it turns out, he doesn’t have to remember, because Izumi is cutting in and flipping the menu over to the drinks section.

“You should get this,” Izumi directs, his finger points to one of the blended ice drinks. 

Yoneya looks pleased with that choice, murmuring  _ ooh, nice one _ before nodding and looking up at Kyousuke to say “Yeah, I’ll have that.”

He writes down the rest of their order and walks off, ignoring the stray glances that get thrown in his direction as he traverses the café. He think that he’ll pull in a lot of tips from this job, which is always appreciated.

As fate would have it, Kyousuke is also the waiter who brings out Izumi and Yoneya’s order. While he hasn’t been paying active attention to them, in the times when they’re in his line of vision he can see them like they always are; playful, teasing, with matching devious smiles that would make any responsible adult blanch.

Tray in hand, he weaves his way through the tables to approach theirs. They’re laughing and joking about a topic that only becomes apparent as he gets closer; they’re discussing whether they would ever bring future girlfriends to this place. 

It answers his question about the nature of their relationship, but honestly, only opens up several others—especially with the way Yoneya is leaning into Izumi’s space and their casual touching and their relaxed expressions.

He puts down the tray on the edge of their table and starts setting their order in front of them. Izumi reaches out for everything, so Kyousuke willingly hands over the plate of orange cupcakes and two drinks to him.

When Izumi takes what Kyousuke knows is the drink that Yoneya had ordered, he scoops off all of the whipped cream on the top of it and spoons it onto his plate before placing it in front of Yoneya. Yoneya, in response, only makes some noise of affirmation, like this is an occurrence that happens regularly between the two.

Kyousuke watches the interaction in silence. 

Slightly bemused, he picks up his tray and makes to leave and go sort out his thoughts. Before he can get too far though, Yoneya stops him, putting out a hand to grasp at Kyousuke’s forearm.

“Wait,” he starts, prompting both Kyousuke and Izumi to turn to him in question. Yoneya looks at Izumi, and gestures to the cup of tea he had ordered. “We forgot to ask for milk for your tea,”

Izumi, blinking, looks down at his tea, which is only accompanied by a packet of sugar. “Oh, shit. You’re right,” Izumi says, sounding like he only just realized. 

Kyousuke isn’t sure whether he’s more concerned at the fact that Izumi forgot such a key part of his order, or that Yoneya noticed it it first. 

“I’ll get you some,” Kyousuke assures, receiving nods from both Izumi and Yoneya. 

He leaves the table, but he still catches the starting words of Izumi’s heartfelt speech of gratitude to Yoneya, and it’s appropriately dramatic and also a little more intimate than Kyousuke is comfortable overhearing. He’s glad he only heard the first few sentences, and quickens his pace to escape whatever headache they’re brewing.

He tries, but still, now that they’re there… and now that he is aware… it’s a little hard to ignore them. 

Kyousuke is a very professional individual, and he prides himself on never straying too far into other people’s business. (Except for Konami. But she’s a special case.) But, as he asks the kitchen for a jug of milk, he keeps seeing things that lead him to truly ponder their relationship. 

Does he feel a little bad about being so involved in his senior’s business? Maybe; but it’s genuinely intriguing, and he’s always been a bit of a busybody when it comes to people he’s close with. A side effect of being the eldest brother, which is only cemented further in this case by the whole “a seventeen-year-old younger brother and a sixteen-year-old older brother” situation.

He’s not so unselfaware to think this justifies his blatant curiosity, but it tides the guilt slightly.

When he returns with the milk for Izumi’s tea as promised (it’s later than he would like, he had gotten sidetracked by a split cup of coffee) neither Izumi or Yoneya are paying any attention to him. They’re both deeply engrossed in a conversation over some papers that they have spread out between them. Yoneya is bent over the table, scanning the papers intensely while Izumi watches from further back.

As Kyousuke gets closer, he can see that they’re notes for school. Izumi is probably letting Yoneya read his notes. It makes sense, since they’re in the same class, and Yoneya is famous for his abysmal grades. 

Yoneya is frowning particularly intensely at a line when Izumi shifts.

“Hey,” he says gently, “your headband is falling. Stay still.”

Stopping in his tracks, Kyousuke watches as Izumi reaches up his hands to push the offending headband back into position in Yoneya’s hair. He then takes a few seconds to eye it before slightly shifting it again. 

Yoneya makes no reaction whatsoever as this is happening, still scowling at the school notes like they killed his entire family. 

When Izumi is satisfied with the placement, he goes back to looking over Yoneya’s shoulder like it didn’t even happen. They both continue on like normal.

Kyousuke blinks in disbelief.

He clears his throat very loudly, making sure that there is no way the two can miss his approach. They both sit up at the noise, looking somewhat startled. Yoneya’s left shoulder bumps back into Izumi’s right shoulder with the movement, and it’s clear that it’s only then that the two realize how close they had been to each other. 

They look at each other briefly, before both of them turn away—Kyousuke thinks he might see a slight blush on Izumi’s face.

The situation is far more complicated than he had first anticipated, it seems.

He sets down the milk. They both thank him; still wearing the slightly bewildered, almost flustered, looks. 

When Kyousuke leaves, he hazards another look over his shoulder at the two, against his better judgement. They’ve returned to going over the notes, except the distance between them is much more defined now, with Izumi sometimes flinching away when he draws too close.

Kyousuke doesn’t need to see any more. He knows exactly what type of headache the two are going around causing. He just hopes that they figure it out before it gets too out of hand.


	3. monday

There’s a box of puppies sitting in the middle of the solo rank battle hall.

Yousuke, without a doubt, knows he’s died and gone to heaven.

It’s only just after school let out, so the area isn’t that crowded yet, leaving a clear space for Yousuke to walk up to the puppies. He tries to act calm about it, but he  _ isn’t _ , and he ends up skipping the last few steps towards them. 

They’re even cuter up close. He’s surely either dead and in heaven or dying and living in a hallucination his brain has created to make the process easier.

“Yoneya-senpai, hello. Are you interested in adopting a puppy?” somebody says, and Yousuke has to reluctantly take his eyes off of the dogs to find who the speaker is.

Karasuma stands beside Yousuke, looking down at the puppies fondly. Yoneya isn’t surprised to find out Karasuma is behind this.

“Is this another one of your jobs, Karasuma?” he asks, kneeling down to put a hand out for the puppies to sniff. They jump up to reach it, licking at his fingers and barking, and Yousuke is pretty sure he’s never been happier in his entire life.

“No, I’m helping Arashiyama-san out. He found them abandoned on the side of the road and couldn’t leave them there. He asked me to ask around Border to see if anybody would adopt them.”

Yousuke nods, trying not to glower at the thought of somebody abandoning these poor puppies. At least Arashiyama had been there to step in before it had been too late for them.

One of them nips at his finger. Gently, he scolds it, cooing “You can’t do that! Don’t be a bad boy, you aren’t a bad boy, right? Aww, of course you aren’t, you’re such a good little baby,” He doesn’t even care that he’s in the middle of one of the most populated places in Border; there is no dignity in the face of cute puppies.

“So, you’re adopting one?” Karasuma asks, amusement edging his voice. 

Yousuke wants to say yes. 

He wants to say yes so badly, but he hesitates.

His house isn’t exactly big enough to handle two dogs right now, and he and his parents are always quite busy, only leaving his grandmother at home most of the time to take care of them both. Not to mention the question of how well they’d get along; Yousuke is well aware that his dog can be rather territorial at times.

But… then again…

The same puppy that had nipped him before rises up to nuzzle the palm of his hand. 

Hook, line and sinker.

“I’ll take this o—”

“You absolutely will  _ not _ ,”

Like a scowling angel on his shoulder guiding him towards making good decisions, Shuuji stands in front of him and the box of puppies with one of those  _ looks _ . If Yousuke was a lesser man, he would’ve been balking. 

But he isn’t. What he is, is an expert in all things Shuuji, and getting his way with the boy is no different.

“You’re no fun,” he complains, pointedly turning away from Shuuji to focus back on the puppies. It doesn’t matter if he’s not directly looking at Shuuji anymore, he can still feel the weight of his glare on him as Yousuke lovingly pets the puppy.

“You don’t have enough room.” 

Yousuke knows that Shuuji knows him well enough to win this argument, but he’s not going down without a fight.

“I can’t just leave them, now can I?”

“Somebody else will take them in,”

Yousuke picks up the puppy and cradles it to his chest. 

Shuuji crosses his arms.

“But  _ look _ at how cute he is,”

“That’s not going to work on me, Yousuke.”

“Ugh, serious guys really are a pain… Hey, what if I said I’d take all the responsibility?”

“You’d have to quit Border.”

“Oh! We can keep him in our operations room! He can be our mascot!”

“ _ No _ . We can’t take care of a puppy, Yousuke.”

“We totally can. I’ll do everything. You can just play with the puppy every now and then. It might even help your stress levels!”

“The only thing that is going to help my stress levels right now is you accepting that you can’t adopt the puppy, Yousuke,”

If Yousuke or Shuuji were paying more attention, they would’ve heard the footsteps and murmurs that sounded like  _ ooh, shh… think Tsuji told me about this… you think our kouhai are so cute?…  _ But they aren’t, so, like a pair of rookie B-ranks, they’re caught unawares.

Like a well placed Scorpion blade, somebody’s voice cuts through their heated discussion. 

“Wow, I didn’t know we had an old married couple here at Border. Did you guys know?” 

Yousuke whirls around. Behind him, fanned out in a vague semicircle, is Inukai Sumiharu and a group of other eighteen year olds, most of them with amused looks on their faces. The question was clearly rhetorical, but somebody mutters  _ literally just said … heard about it from Tsuji … can’t believe I get shit for terrorizing the pipsqueaks … this guy pulling this shit … _

Yousuke can’t really hear them over the drumming in his ears. He thinks the source might be his heart.

If Yousuke was a lesser man, he’d be embarrassed enough to consider changing his identity and moving to another country. Shuuji seems to be handling that part well enough for the both of them anyway, with the way he begins spluttering and stammering.

“We aren’t—what the fuck—” he starts, the look on his face halfway between murderous and mortified, “no — ugh, just shut  _ up, _ ”. He apparently gives up when Inukai shoots him a wide smile, cheerful enough to be sinister, and settles for glaring. 

Yousuke thinks this might be the fastest a non-neighbour or non-Jin person has pissed Shuuji off. With one last glare at Yousuke, he stalks off, taking an almost visible aura of anger around him as he goes, and it’s ridiculous and endearing enough that Yousuke snickers. 

“Were you guys interested in adopting some puppies?” Karasuma slides back into the conversation and Yousuke is surprised to find that, due to being so wrapped up in arguing with Shuuji, he forgot that the other boy was there. 

“We sure are!” Inukai says sunnily, thankfully turning his attention from Yousuke to Karasuma so Yousuke can properly muse what just happened between him and Shuuji. “Look, there are four of them! One for Murakami, Hokari, Kageura… and me! Perfect!” 

There’s the sound of Inukai clapping his hands together.

Yousuke realizes with horror that those four puppies included the one he’s currently holding against his chest and his heart automatically revolts against the idea. His head tells him, in a voice that sounds way too much like Shuuji’s—and his only problem with it is that Shuuji never sounds this reasonable—that he should be glad they’re all going to good, loving homes. 

Probably. He can’t be sure about the Kageura household.

The voice that still sounds like Shuuji’s tells him that he needs to surrender the puppy in his arms, especially with the way Hokari has begun eyeing it. It’s probably fine. He might be able to live with the heartbreak that separating himself from this puppy with inevitably cause. He probably won’t die from sadness.

Karasuma shuffles so that he’s standing directly in front of Yousuke, looking down at him with a sympathetic expression.

“Sorry, Yoneya-senpai, but it’s time to let the puppy go,” he says gently.

“I could still adopt it,” Yousuke protests, just for protest’s sake. Karasuma shakes his head, a slight smile on his face.

“I think Miwa-senpai will kill me if I let you do that. It’s for my sake, Yoneya-senpai,” Karasuma says. He’s definitely teasing, but Yousuke doesn’t hold it against him. He’s probably right, after all. Shuuji can hold a grudge like no other.

Yousuke sighs, deep and long, and very unwillingly lets Karasuma take the puppy out of his embrace. 

“When Shuuji and I move in together,” Yousuke laments, staring after the puppy with folron eyes “I’m going to make sure that our place is big enough to fit all the puppies I want so he can’t say a thing about it,”

It’s not a comment that he means for anybody to pay attention to; it’s more a vocalization of his misery than anything, but every person gathered turns to stare at him. 

Under their gazes, Yousuke has the eerie and extremely unsettling feeling that he’s missing something. It’s not a feeling he likes, nor one he’s very familiar with. 

He thinks about it and comes up empty; it wasn’t that strange of a comment, after all. He’s always toyed with the idea that he and Shuuji would move in together—sure, it’s not something that they’ve talked about explicitly yet, but it’s always felt like a mutual agreement, and with how close he and Shuuji are, he doesn’t know why the others are acting so weird about it.

There’s a few seconds of nothing but silence as Yousuke measures up what the others think they’re doing. Inukai has an expression that looks like he doesn’t know whether to smile or to frown. Hokari and Murakami are—okay, they’re about as unreadable as they always are, but Karasuma is definitely looking a little confused, though over what Yousuke can’t imagine. 

In the end, it’s Kageura who breaks the stasis.

“Fucking  _ hell _ , I can’t take this anymore, if I have to spend another second around this guy and his cloying feelings I’m going to lose my fucking mind,” he growls, levelling an accusing stare at Yousuke. “I’m out,”. Then, before walking off in his anger, he pokes Inukai in the side and says “Oi, pick up my puppy for me. I want the brown one,”

Inukai laughs off his wounds and promises he will, and Kageura stomps off, scowling at anybody who has the misfortune of crossing his path. 

Yousuke, who prides himself in being constantly capable and unfazeable, has no fucking idea what’s going on.

Matters only get worse when Murakami gives a small smile, a slight chuckle, and says “He’s right. This  _ is _ a bit painful to bear.”

Inukai has finally decided, like he always seems to, that it’s more in his interests to smile. He grins, reaching over to pat Yousuke on the shoulder and gives an emphatic “You can do it, Yoneya.” Inukai’s sunny countenance is enough that Yousuke feels appropriately reassured and motivated by his comment, but he’s still not sure exactly what he’s supposed to be reassured in or motivated to do. 

He nods, trying to hide his confusion. Hokari rolls his eyes, leaning closer to Murakami to murmur “Kageura was right. Inukai is definitely the bigger threat to Border’s youth,” 

Murakami nods sagely in response.

Karasuma clears his throat gently, bringing everybody’s attention back to the issue at hand. 

“Murakami-senpai, Inukai-senpai, have you made your choice?” he asks, all the while still shooting Yousuke the occasional look. He seems like he’s trying to figure something out and the answer can only be found in Yousuke’s features, but Yousuke has no idea what he’s looking for.

It’s not a scrutiny that he enjoys, so he takes advantage of Inukai and Murakami’s dog-induced excitement and thus distraction to make his escape. He briefly considers going to do something productive, like homework with Izumi, or discussing strategies with Shuuji, or… well, anything that isn’t solo rank battling. 

But, his feet (and pretty much the rest of him) have other ideas, and he finds himself standing in front of a booth, where Utagawa is standing and catching a breath. 

Perfect. He cracks his knuckles and walks over.


	4. tuesday

Shinnosuke doesn’t know what he’s done to deserve this. 

Mixed unit patrols already sounded like a nightmare to him; the possibility of being paired up with girls who he never interacted with before was a real and terrifying one, but he never worried about this particular outcome until it happened.

Honestly, he should be glad that he’s on an all male patrol group, not to mention with all of them the same age as him, but why does it have to be  _ these _ agents?

“Hey, hey, hey! Are we ready to go!” Yoneya Yousuke says loudly as he needles the person standing beside him.

Izumi Kouhei grins, jostling him back with his elbow as he replies with “I bet I’ll kill more neighbours than you,”

It’s a challenge that Yoneya can’t ignore, and soon they’re even more up in each other’s spaces, competitive and playful and much, much too loud. Shinnosuke feels like there should be some sort of failsafe in place stopping Yoneya, Izumi or Midorikawa from being put on the same patrol unit as each other; there is no way HQ should’ve approved this, but the truth faces him starkly.

To make things worse, there’s another person to add to his headache.

“Both of you concentrate on the job. This isn’t a  _ game _ ,” Miwa Shuuji hisses as he stands off to the side, scowling at the other two as they continue to rile each other up. Miwa is pretty well known for his bad temper, but Shinnosuke can sense he’s in a worse mood than usual and it only decreases his hopes of having a peaceful, uneventful patrol. 

If he doesn’t get killed by a neighbour, his three companions will probably do it.

“Aw, Shuuji, lighten up!” Yoneya says, stepping away from Izumi to turn his rather deadly elbows on Miwa. Miwa’s scowl doesn’t lift as Yoneya approaches, but he doesn’t move away from the other boy either. He just allows Yoneya to push him slightly, and after a slight scuffle they end up standing shoulder to shoulder.

“Just take it seriously, Yousuke,” Miwa says, his voice a few tones softer than it had been earlier. It surprises Shinnosuke; he’s never heard Miwa take that tone of voice before. It’s curious, some small detail that he files away to tell Inukai later, because Inukai is infinitely interested in these kinds of things.

Though, Inukai had often talked about gossip involving the famous A-rank trio of fools; mostly in reference to Yoneya and Izumi. Shinnosuke never paid attention enough to know the contents of the rumours, but he glances over to Izumi anyway. He looks considerably less happy than he had a few minutes ago, hands now shoved in his pockets and gaze directed at the floor. 

Shinnosuke puts away this bit of information as well. Even if he’s going to be possibly miserable for most of this patrol, at least Inukai will gain some happiness out of it. 

The headset he’s wearing flickers to life, and Hiyami’s voice greets them all. At least he has somebody familiar during this time.

“Good afternoon, everybody. I’m Hiyami Aki, and I’m your operator for this patrol.” Hiyami says coolly.

There are murmurs of response from everybody. Shinnosuke wonders how Hiyami is going to handle this group—she’s always been on the quiet side, like him, and while one can make a case for Miwa also being on the quiet side, the others definitely aren’t.

She carefully reads over the details of their patrol, and then they’re all off. Shinnosuke wipes any concerns from his mind and tries to focus on staying alive.

* * *

 

Staying alive is easier said than done. It’s just his luck that it’s a fairly active afternoon, with three neighbours spawning within the path of their patrol. After the first two, both he and Izumi discover that Miwa and Yoneya are perfectly happy to take the initiative and leave them to backup. Shinnosuke doesn’t mind, but he can tell pretty easily that Izumi does.

Izumi falls into step beside Shinnosuke, with Yoneya and Miwa walking further ahead. Shinnosuke has a bad feeling.

“Miwa and that spear fool make a good team, huh?” Izumi muses. His tone has a pensive quality that makes Shinnosuke wonder whether he should be replying, or leaving Izumi to figure it out himself.

Izumi looks at him. Shinnosuke figures it’s the former.

He nods. Then, after a few seconds, he says “They’re on the same unit.”

Izumi looks as satisfied as he can be with that answer. There’s still a strange look on his face, but he goes back to staring at the ground as he says “Yeah. They’re pretty close too, huh?”

It’s clear that Izumi wants some specific answer to this question, but Shinnosuke has no idea what it is. He settles for making a hum of agreement. Izumi doesn’t even respond to his answer; the conversation is rapidly becoming one-sided.

“I mean, look at them.”

Shinnosuke looks ahead, where Yoneya and Miwa both have their triggers out and are comparing them passionately. Miwa’s countenance is noticeably lighter than it had been; even though he’s still rolling his eyes and snapping at Yoneya, it’s plain to see how at ease he is in the conversation. Yoneya looks at ease too, coaxing more conversation than Shinnosuke has ever seen out of Miwa as if it’s second nature.

He thinks Izumi’s statement is pretty truthful.

Izumi is looking up now too, his eyes narrowed and intense as he watches Yoneya and Miwa. “I guess they’re like, best friends or something, right?” he mumbles. Shinnosuke doesn’t have time to reply before Izumi is making some noise of displeasure, groaning as he rubs a hand over his face. “Ugh, what am I saying? Nevermind, Tsuji. Forget it.”

Shinnosuke is more than happy to do that.

His headset crackles.

“There’s a gate opening about your ten o’clock.” Hiyami says. “Are we going with the usual?” Shinnosuke assumes  _ the usual _ is letting Miwa and Yoneya run off while he and Izumi wait behind them, and it’s confirmed when both Miwa and Yoneya give enthusiastic replies. Well, enthusiastic in Yoneya’s case. Miwa’s is more bloodthirsty.

He can hear Izumi scoff behind him as they all break into a run, Shinnosuke just a bit faster than his companion. He thinks he can hear Izumi murmur something like  _ aren’t I the A-rank number one here? _ but he can’t be sure; and it’s not like it makes much difference anyway. Miwa and Yoneya have the advantage of being on the same unit, it makes sense that they would want to go on the offensive.

Shinnosuke sees Miwa and Yoneya reach the neighbour.

“Second gate opening behind you.” Hiyami says, her voice still level. “Change of plans, Izumi and Tsuji, you go after that one,” she commands.

Shinnosuke and Izumi turn around to the familiar crackling of a gate manifesting while the other two engage with the neighbour. Yoneya is whooping, and it’s similar enough to the ridiculous way Inukai acts in battle that Shinnosuke smiles a little.

“Tsuji!” Izumi shouts. “I’ll distract it, you run around and attack from the back!” Shinnosuke glances over at Izumi as he shouts back his agreement, in time to see the grin spread over Izumi’s face as he sets up two large Asteroid bullets.

“One hundred hits in a thousand shots!” he yells as the bullets go streaking forward. Shinnosuke realizes that his earlier thoughts were wrong; A-rank number one really does make a difference. Scarily so.

He focuses back at the job on hand as the neighbour rears up towards Izumi, screeching as it’s hit. He pulls out his Kogetsu, and while the neighbour is standing on its back legs—he strikes at one.

It’s a clean hit, and the neighbour, without the balance of one of its legs, topples over. Izumi yells in victory, preparing another bullet as Shinnosuke sidesteps a wild swing from the neighbour’s tail. 

After a few more hits, the battle is over. Shinnosuke thinks to check on how Miwa and Yoneya are doing as Izumi takes a picture to send to one of his teammates—citing wanting to “give the guy a taste of real action” as his reason.

Shinnosuke can catch a quick breath as Hiyama and Izumi rapidly discuss what their next move should be over the comms. He spares a glance towards Yoneya and Miwa, in time to catch the end of their battle. 

As Miwa goes in to give the final blow, he does a  _ very _ impressive flip, clearing himself of the neighbour’s flailing as he readies his Kogetsu. It’s quite the image, but something else distracts Shinnosuke from watching it all. He watches with vague horror as Yoneya, whose gaze seems to be trained on Miwa as well, completely misses seeing the tail of the Neighbour that whips around to slam into him.

Shuuji begins his descent—right onto the eye of the Neighbour, falling down with sword extended and wind whipping at his hair. 

Yoneya yells “ _ FUCK! _ ”. 

Shuuji, alarmed, twists around to watch as Yoneya tumbles into the ground. His Kogetsu, now held at an ineffective angle, glances off of the Neighbours armour. The neighbour takes its chance to shift as Miwa lands on the ground, still looking at Yoneya in concern.

Shinnosuke realizes that the neighbour is gearing up to attack again, and runs towards it on pure instinct. He puts up both of his shields in front of Miwa as the Neighbour whips its tail around to hit him and manages to block it; the movement snaps Miwa out of his daze and the shield gives him ample time to shoot the Neighbour’s eye. 

With a final groan, it goes down, leaving Miwa and Shinnosuke panting, Yoneya on the ground, and Izumi running over with a shout of concern.

“Hey! You two okay?” Izumi calls, running up behind Shinnosuke. Miwa is already helping Yoneya off of the ground, examining his wounds as they start to leak trion. Yoneya leans into him, already laughing off the incident as Miwa lectures him.

Izumi stops in his tracks and turns back to Shinnosuke, a strange expression on his face. “Nice work out there!” He says, walking back to clap Shinnosuke on the shoulder. Shinnosuke nods in response. It had been nice to get properly into the action, and Izumi is easy to work with.

“Your support skills are really great,” Shinnosuke says, because an acknowledgement of Izumi’s skills is called for. It’s been a while since he’s fought alongside any A-ranks, especially since he doesn’t have many solo rank battles.

Izumi grins at him, throwing an arm around his shoulder. Shinnosuke manages not to push him off just through how used he is to this behaviour from Inukai, but it’s still disconcerting that Izumi is acting so familiar.

“Hey! You two okay?” Yoneya calls as they reconvene. Now that they’re closer Shinnosuke can see that he and Miwa are both showing signs of wear. 

Shinnosuke nods as Izumi pulls him closer and announces “We’re both fine! We totally crushed it! Are  _ you _ okay? Seems like you’re getting sloppy, spear fool.”

Yoneya rolls his eyes. “In your dreams,” he retorts.

Then, he looks over at the Neighbour that Izumi and Shinnosuke had dispatched, a considering look in his eye. “Huh,” Yoneya begins, moving to punch Izumi in the shoulder. “Not bad, bullet fool. You too, Tsuji.”

Izumi grins proudly. “We’re a pretty great team, me and Tsuji.” 

Shinnosuke decides to humour him with a nod and leaves out the fact that, with both of their respective skills in support, it would be ridiculous for them not to be a good team. 

“You should totally join my unit,” Izumi continues, turning to Tsuji, “I have this guy who I know you’ll be the perfect replacement for.”

Shinnosuke smiles slightly, ducking his head. “I don’t think the captain will let you,”

Izumi shrugs. “Tachikawa-san won’t care.”

“I meant  _ my _ captain,” Shinnosuke believes it’s healthy to have an amount of fear for Ninomiya. 

Izumi defies this belief.

“Nah, don’t worry,” Izumi scoffs, waving his other hand, “Ninomiya is my disciple! As his shooting senpai, he has to listen to me.”

Ninomiya is the number one shooter. Ninomiya is also spectacularly stubborn. Shinnosuke really doubts that he can ever act as anybody’s kouhai, but he’ll let Izumi believe what he wants to believe.

Izumi’s phone rings, and he extracts himself from leaning against Shinnosuke to go answer it, leaving Yoneya and Shinnosuke together while Hiyami organizes cleanup crews. 

Yoneya is looking at Shinnosuke a little weirdly, and Shinnosuke is so tired of dealing with this by now. With a slightly confused smile, Yoneya says “Lucky you, I’ve never gotten a direct invite to the number one unit.”

Shinnosuke doesn’t know why he sounds disappointed about it. Yoneya seems plenty happy with the unit he has now. Even if Shinnosuke had wanted to question Yoneya more, he can’t, because at that moment Miwa enters the conversation again. 

“We should get a move on. Hiyami says that we should let Izumi and Tsuji take up the front for now,”  he tells Yoneya, looking down at his leg critically. Yoneya instantly brightens up, following Miwa’s gaze down to his injury to see that it’s mostly contained.

“Guess Miwa unit can’t take all of the spotlight!” Yoneya says brightly. “We’re just too good, huh?” 

He nudges Miwa as he says this. Miwa rolls his eyes, but he mumbles an affirmation regardless. 

Shinnosuke decides to not mention that he had to help them with that last Neighbour.

When Izumi comes back, they all set off again, with Shinnosuke and Izumi in front this time. Izumi is still acting strangely familiar with him; Shinnosuke isn’t bothered by it, but it is a curiosity. Yoneya seems to be torn between jumping into whatever conversation Izumi and Shinnosuke have, and staying back with Miwa.

They finish the rest of the patrol without incident, and Shinnosuke is vaguely glad that he had left with his life intact. He also leaves with the impression that there had been a greater situation among that group of people that he had inadvertently gotten tangled up in, but he can’t place what it is, and in all honesty: he really doesn’t want to.


	5. wednesday

They’re sitting together in their operations room when Izumi’s phone goes off. 

It’s Yoneya texting. Kei can recognize the ridiculous text tone of Yoneya screaming his lungs out that Izumi set anywhere. Izumi lights up instantly, scrabbling for his phone as Kei sighs and attempts to flick through his textbook again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Izumi intently stare at his phone screen, before he rapidly types out a response and stands up to stride towards the door.

“Leaving already?” Kei asks, because Izumi had been on ‘Tachikawa Study Guard’—thought up by Director Shinoda to ensure Kei would actually study a little at least. He regrets asking as soon as he does, because if Izumi wants to leave, it’s not like Kei is arguing. Definitely not. He’s more than happy to let Izumi run off into the sunset with Yoneya, whatever the kid desires. Perfectly fine with him.

“Nah,” Izumi replies with a smirk, throwing open the door to reveal Utagawa standing there while sighing and holding a paper bag. The boy gives a rueful smile.

“Hello, Izumi-senpai,” he greets, holding out the bag. Peering into their room, he inclines his head at Kei and says “Tachikawa-san, hello. I hope you’re studying well,”

Kei waves back. “Absolutely not, but thanks for the thought,”

Izumi snickers. “So, how did you get roped into being delivery boy?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe and taking the bag.

Utagawa sighs again, but the smile doesn’t leave his face. “Yoneya-senpai challenged me to five rounds, and I thought it would be good practice. He wanted a prize for winning, so we agreed on owing the other a favour.” 

Kei rolls his eyes as Izumi laughs more. “Sounds just like that battle-starved spear fool,” Izumi says, sounding fond. “Why buying me food, though?”

Utagawa shrugs. “Sorry, senpai; I have no idea. You should ask Yoneya-senpai. I’m just the delivery boy… and the wallet,” He finishes on another rueful sigh, before asking his leave. Kei and Izumi wave him off, with Izumi somehow also roping him into a promise to rank battle before he goes. 

Izumi closes the door and walks back to the couch, pulling out a stick of takoyaki and two sticks of yakitori from the bag during his examination of the bag’s contents.

“Did you rope Yoneya into another bet about food? You know we earn more money than him, right?” Kei asks, eager for a distraction. The food also smells really good; he’s already gauging his chances of stealing some.

Izumi shakes his head as he sits down besides Kei again. “Not this time. I didn’t know about this.”

Izumi doesn’t seem to notice—or is ignoring—how strange it is for somebody to buy a meal for a friend completely unprompted, so Kei assumes that it must happen between the two a lot. Which… doesn’t make it much less strange, but more understandable. Izumi and Yoneya have always gotten along like a house on fire. Concerning, but splendidly.

“Awfully nice of him,” Kei comments as he once again reluctantly returns to his books.

“Yeah,” Izumi says through his mouthful of food, “he’s cool like that. Super cool,”

Kei makes a grunt of response. The two lapse into silence.

After a few more agonizing minutes, where Kei makes a valiant effort to study and actually completes a few of his maths exercises, he decides to cut his losses and quit while he’s ahead.

He slams the book shut. “I’m done,” he declares.

Izumi, now finishing off the last of his takoyaki, looks incredibly amused. “You’re done, are you?”

Kei scowls. “Yes. I’m done, and there’s nothing you can do that will make me continue, so don’t bother.”

Izumi gives some semblance of judgement for about two seconds, and then shrugs. Kei crows in victory—Izumi has always been easy to lead astray. “Hey, wanna play some Overwatch?”

Izumi’s eyes light up and he’s throwing the paper bag to the side, to be lost forever in the mess that resides within the walls of their operations room. Kei gives the same treatment to his textbook—he’ll probably be able to fish it out later—and focuses on setting up the console.

Soon enough, they’re in the swing of it, obligations to homework and studying so blatantly cast aside that Shinoda would have a fit if he saw. They’re doing pretty well; Izumi and Kei make a good team whether online or offline and it reflects, even if the rest of their team can be finicky at times.

All in all, everything is going fine. Kei has high hopes about this competition season. 

Everything is going fine, that is, until Izumi’s phone lights up on the desk in front of them. The text tone distracts both Izumi and Kei, because it’s pretty impossible not to be distracted by a phone screaming in Yoneya’s voice, and Kei manages to catch the contents of the text before his focus is back on Overwatch.

_ Guess you’ll just have to take me out to make up for it _ , it reads.

Izumi doesn’t have Kei’s instant switch reaction; instead, his focus stays on the phone for far longer than necessary, forcing Kei to step in so that Izumi’s character doesn’t die.

“Hey! Pay attention!” he snaps, elbowing Izumi in the side. 

Side-eyeing Izumi, Kei can see that he’s still not wholly paying attention, expression a little dazed as he starts moving the joystick on his controller again. Well, as long as he’s playing, even if he’s a little out of it. Kei can carry this team all on his own if he needs. At least, he thinks he can.

“Tachikawa-san,” Izumi says, suddenly setting down his controller.

Kei opts for making noises of distress instead of actually replying as Izumi’s character is instantly taken out, leaving Kei the only man on the point. Did he say something about carrying them? He was lying. He can’t believe this. His beloved teammate and friend is abandoning him, leaving him to die alone on the sad and lonely plains of Nepal.

He can’t look away from the screen, there’s a Pharah flying around and he needs to get away and fast, but he also needs to get Izumi’s head back in the game before he respawns. Without even sparing him a glance, Kei begins to kick him in the calf.

“Izumi, we’re  _ losing, pick your controller back up, what the fuck _ ,” he hisses, his kicks becoming more urgent with every word. Izumi waves Kei off, obviously intent on ending this friendship prematurely and also possibly getting kicked out of the unit. 

Kei is pretty invested in Overwatch.

“Shut up, I’m having a moment,” he tells Kei.

Kei makes another upset sound as he dies and the point turns over to the other team. “Your moment is making us  _ lose _ and if my SR drops I  _ will _ —”

His threat is never vocalized, which is a bit of a shame, because Kei is rather proud of all the creative death threats he can come up with. He’s fond of one that come forth after the Aftokrator invasion: “ _ I will turn you into a trion cube and dice you like fruit _ ”. 

(First heard after Yuiga had accidentally shut off the TV in the middle of a match.)

No, he never has the chance to come up with another poetic way to threaten Izumi’s life because Izumi is cutting him off, near-shouting the revelation that had seemingly shaken him so a minute prior.

“I think I like Yoneya?”

He says it all in one go, the sentence rushing out of him in a stream of words that barely sound like words due to how quickly he’s speaking. 

It’s fine though, because Kei hears all he needs to hear. 

He’s suddenly a lot less upset about the impending loss in Overwatch. He’s just been given his chance for revenge on a shining platter, after all.

He spares a look at Izumi, who is staring down at his hands like he doesn’t recognize them and blushing scarlet, and Kei does the only natural thing in the situation.

He keeps playing.

“Hey!” Izumi protests, now snapped out of his daze by his captain’s blatant disrespect. “Did you hear what I just said?”

Kei’s jaw sets as an enemy Widowmaker gets a headshot on him. Time to bring out the big guns.

“ _ Finish this game and we’ll talk about it _ ,” Kei hisses, using his rarely used Captain Voice™. Contrary to popular belief, Kei  _ can _ act like the captain he is, though he usually hides that knowledge. It’s a secret weapon, to be used in the most dire of situations. 

Such as now. 

The shock of hearing that tone is enough that Izumi is spurred into action, and Kei grins. Time to reverse-sweep this shit.

They manage to pull a win from the near jaws of defeat, and when Izumi remembers himself and sets his controller down again, Kei is already a step ahead of him.

A step ahead of him being: controller cast aside, arm supporting him as he leans on the couch back, shit-eating grin on his face. Kei watches as the regret flickers over Izumi’s face, but it’s too late. Kei has him now.

Izumi begins “Actually, nevermind,” at the same time Kei purrs “So, Yoneya,”

They briefly meet gazes, Izumi’s a half-hearted glare and Kei’s a smug sneer.

Izumi loses the staring competition.

Without looking at Kei, Izumi admits “Yeah, Yoneya,”. Kei smirks harder.

“Our little Izumi…” he trills, making sure that Izumi  _ sweats _ , “is in  _ love _ !”

“I said nothing about love!” Izumi protests immediately, features colouring red. 

Kei ignores him and repeats again, with a little more intensity, “ _in love!_ ” He’s hitting his stride now, and he continues with “With our resident—what is it you call him? Spear fool?” 

A goading smile spreads across his face. 

Izumi very begrudgingly allows him a nod. 

“With our resident spear fool, no less!”

After finishing his proclamation, all Kei does is stare at Izumi with an indulgently pleased smile and bide his time. Izumi knows this game. Kei can see the wariness in his eyes. Kei is a master of mental manipulation in battle, and Izumi is good but he’s not  _ that _ good; he’s bound to crack.

Sure enough, he can only withstand so much, and he finally grits out “What do I do?” 

Nevermind that Kei is is absolutely the worst person to go to for romantic advice; Izumi has been backed into a corner, and Kei will take advantage of that.

Kei smiles. Izumi groans.

“Well,” Kei begins, making sure he seems like he’s genuinely considering Izumi’s question. He gives it a few more moments.

“Yeah, I have no idea.”

Izumi groans even louder, falling back onto the couch. Kei snickers.

Kunichika materializes out of nowhere to look down at Izumi with an amused expression, leading Kei to wonder how much of that conversation she heard. It doesn’t matter to Kei, of course, but from the way Izumi is burying his head even further into the couch pillows, it definitely matters to him.

Kunichika just gives her usual calm and sedate smile. All it does is make Izumi attempt to become one with the couch even more.

“You should try asking him out,” she says sagely. Izumi turns his head so that only one side of his face is pressed into the back of the couch.

“Why would I do that?” he asks skeptically.

Kunichika smiles, patting him on the shoulder gently. “He seems to like you too,”

“No he doesn’t, because he’s too busy liking Miwa instead,” Izumi mumbles with so much bitterness that it genuinely takes Kei by surprise. 

With another dramatic groan, Izumi returns his head to its face down position in the couch.

Okay, granted, Kei doesn’t pay attention to much that goes on in Border outside of his immediate sphere of notice, but he’s pretty sure that’s not true. 

“What makes you think he likes Miwa?” Kei asks. It’s a little surreal that he’s having this conversation at twenty years of age when this should’ve all been left in the past after high school, but he forges on for Izumi’s good. Never say that Kei only cares about swordfighting.

Izumi doesn’t lift his head from the couch, which makes his words incredibly muffled. Kei and Kunichika can still understand him, but barely. “Because they’re all like, best friend-y and gross.” 

“You could’ve been describing you and Yoneya just then. That’s literally you and Yoneya,” Kei deadpans. Izumi does not seem pleased, but at least he’s looking at Kei and Kunichika now.

“But they have like,  _ history _ and stuff! You should see how Yoneya acts around Miwa!” Izumi says, frustrated.

Kei is way too old for this. He’s enjoying it, but he’s way too old for this. “Have you seen how Yoneya acts around you? He just bought you a meal for no reason,”

Kunichika shoots Kei a look and whispers “ _ Did he? _ ” Kei nods, wagging his eyebrows and pointing at the paper bag on the ground next to the couch. They both turn to look at Izumi with matching pointed looks, just to rub it in.

Izumi, because he never goes down without a fight, makes another feeble attempt. “That’s different, though. That’s just… how we are. He and Miwa are…  _ different _ .” He grimaces after realizing he used the word  _ different _ twice. There’s not a single person in the room who thinks he’s making a good case.

“So you’re both ‘different’,” Kunichika says, putting her hands up to make air quotes. “Maybe he likes you both?”

There’s a few seconds of contemplative silence after that.

“Oho,” Kei says. “Checkmate,”

Kunichika just smiles.

Izumi looks like he’s discovering how to differentiate gold and gold-plated crowns for the first time. 

Kei can almost see it—the flashback reel that’s probably playing in his head of every time Yoneya and him have been inappropriately intimate for best friends. The look on his face is so good that Kei is tempted to pull out a camera; this has to be recorded for posterity.

“Huh,” Izumi says. He’s smart. He’s perceptive. He’s not one to over-complicate things. Kei can sense that he’s on the very edge of revelation, and he only needs one more little push.

Kei points out “Now it’s just a matter of who gets there first. It’s a  _ competition _ ,”

Boom. Magic word. The light returns to Izumi’s eyes. Kei thinks he should become a motivational speaker.

“Oh,” Izumi says, and it’s pretty funny to see him at such a loss for words. His voice has a strange, flat quality to it. “I should… go.” 

Kei throws a covert thumbs up at Kunichika. They share a mental high five. Useless captain who? Certainly not Kei.

“Go get ‘em, Izumi,” he encourages, putting his hand out for a fistbump. 

At that, Izumi smiles, rolls his eyes, and returns the fistbump; there’s a new resolve in his expression that Kei likes seeing, the kind that people usually get when they come across a new and interesting opponent.

A battle metaphor probably isn’t very appropriate in this situation. Then again, all’s fair in love and war.


	6. thursday

Kouhei has a theory.

Well, it isn’t actually his theory, but one borne from the combined brain power of his captain and his operator, but he has claimed it for now.

Luckily for him, it isn’t a theory that requires a lot of effort to test. In fact, all it calls for is him being a little more observant, which his battle honed eyes are quite good at.

He walks into class, as casual as ever, to see a paper bag sitting on his desk. He picks it up, checks the insides, then turns to the person sitting in the desk next to him.

The movement catches Yoneya’s eye, and then he’s turning towards Kouhei almost immediately. He was talking to somebody before Kouhei arrived, but the other person gives up on the conversation as soon as Kouhei enters the picture.

It’s a little nice, and almost flattering, really, the way Yoneya lights up at seeing him.

“Hey, Izumi,” Yoneya says. They usually drop the nicknames when they’re in class, to spare their classmates the confusion.

Kouhei just nudges him fondly in lieu of a greeting, then opening the bag and peering inside. There’s a croquette in it, and Kouhei’s experienced eyes can immediately tell that it comes from his favourite store.

Kouhei has the location of this store committed to heart. He also has the location of Yoneya’s house committed to heart. Those pieces of information, coupled with his unwilling knowledge of where his school is, tells Kouhei that Yoneya went out of his way while he was walking to school to buy this for him.

This theory is ridiculously easy to test. Maybe Kouhei really is a fool, for taking this long.

He says, with a reckless grin, “You treat me better than a girlfriend ever would,”. The sentiment of the comment isn’t too out of line for them, but it’s never been stated so brazenly, so openly.

Yoneya, to his credit, doesn’t bat an eyelash at it. He simply says “And yet you do nothing for me in return,” with the same kind of grin. Kouhei isn’t bothered by his reaction, or lack of reaction. It’s what he expected; he knows Yoneya well, and he knows that this is going to be a fun, and patient, process.

“I help you with schoolwork,” Kouhei points out. He flicks the corner of the workbook sitting open and ignored on Yoneya’s desk, which is covered in both of their handwriting, to help make his point.

Yoneya nods, grimacing as he looks down at his workbook. “I don’t think I studied enough for today’s test,” he says, which isn’t surprising in the least.

Kouhei asks, “You were watching match logs again, weren’t you?” and Yoneya can’t escape from the truth, not with the way he grins and averts his eyes.

Kouhei grins as well.

Yoneya says “Studying was so boring,”.

It’s a pathetic excuse. Kouhei obviously laughs at him first, watching as his expression grows more defeated as time goes on.

Then, because Kouhei isn’t all terrible, he tells Yoneya “We can study together during lunch,”.

The truth is, even if he was all terrible, Kouhei would probably still offer, if it’s Yoneya in question. It is the first time that Kouhei properly takes note of this, but it doesn’t seem as strange as it could be. Of course he has Yoneya’s back, in any situation.

Their teacher walks in, and Yoneya mournfully sighs and gets up from the desk. The teacher is glaring at them already, so Kouhei can’t even get in a few words edgeways as Yoneya gathers his things and departs for his assigned desk, on the other side of the room.

When Yoneya is seated, their teacher gives him and Kouhei a short nod, and begins the lesson.

If Kouhei cranes his neck a little, he can see Yoneya making faces at the teacher whenever he turns his back, and he has to hold up his book a little higher to hide the grin on his face.

* * *

They reconvene during lunch. To Kouhei, the classes dragged on even more than usual, and he feels thoroughly fed up with school already. Yoneya doesn’t look like he’s faring any better; by the time he makes his way over to Kouhei’s desk, his feet have started to drag and he collapses onto the desk with a groan.

“Can we just skip the studying?” Yoneya asks, his voice muffled. Kouhei is tempted to take him up on the offer, but he has a lot riding on Yoneya passing highschool.

“Are you planning to skip university as well?” he teases, poking at Yoneya’s headband. Yoneya groans again, moving a hand to bat aimlessly at Kouhei.

“Maybe,” Yoneya says. “You or Miwa can take care of me for the rest of my life,”

The mention of Miwa pisses Kouhei off just a little bit, but only a little. He’s not a very petty person, and he’s happy at being included too. He reasons with himself: if it’s a competition, it wouldn’t be any fun without some challenge.

Rolling his eyes, Kouhei catches Yoneya’s hand in mid-air.

“I would definitely do a better job than him,” Kouhei says. “He can’t even take care of himself,”

Yoneya, idiot he is, immediately jumps to Miwa’s defense.

“He tries,” he says, fond. “He doesn’t get enough credit,”

Kouhei isn’t petty. He isn’t petty. He _isn’t_. It’s okay that Yoneya likes Miwa as well, enough to defend him on this despite the fact that Kouhei is certain Miwa hasn’t slept for the past three days. It’s fine.

Then, Kouhei says “Okay, but I’d still do better than him,” because it’s not fine.

Yoneya, grinning, agrees with “Yeah, probably.” Kouhei’s ego is thusly stroked, and equilibrium returns to his life. He returns Yoneya’s grin with a crooked one of his own, and then realizes that Yoneya has successfully deflected the conversation from studying right under Kouhei’s nose.

He narrows his eyes at Yoneya, who smiles like he knows he’s been caught.

“Get out your book,” Kouhei commands.

Yoneya rolls his eyes, but obliges without further complaint. Kouhei pushes his desk closer to the one Yoneya is sitting at, until they’re lined up, so that Yoneya can spread out his book in the middle. They were given a set of practice test questions to do for homework last week, so Kouhei figures it’s as good as any a point to start.

His grades aren’t outstanding, but he’s better than Yoneya, and he’s always found it easier to study around his best friend. They’re just comfortable around each other, in a way that always puts an absent smile on Kouhei’s face.

As he begins to work through the questions, he feels Yoneya lean in closer as well. He tries not to think about it, because they _are_ supposed to be working right now. As much as Yoneya’s blatant disregard for personal space is distracting, and tempting, Kouhei has a mission.

And throughout this mission, as Yoneya gets even cozier next to Kouhei, Kouhei realizes something. He doesn’t think Yoneya even _notices_ that he’s doing this right now: crowding up next to Kouhei, making himself comfortable in Kouhei’s space. What’s worse is that Kouhei instinctively moves to accomodate for it as well, he’s leaning a little into Yoneya’s space too, shifting his shoulder down so Yoneya can see better, tilting his head to one side. It begs the question: _how long has this been going on?_ Without either of them even realizing?

It’s embarrassing to even think, for two people who pride themselves on perception and intuition. How long have they been this obvious?

This line of thinking must show on Kouhei’s face, because Yoneya is nudging him in the shoulder and going “Hey, you okay, Izumi?”

Yoneya’s tone is soft and concerned underneath all of his usual cheer. Kouhei can pick it out easily, but most people probably can’t; it’s obvious to him that Yoneya cares. He acts blasé and easygoing but he _cares_ , a subtle, determined affection that seeps through the cracks of people in ways that obvious affection wouldn’t.

It makes heat rise in Kouhei’s cheeks, as much as he tries to tamp it down. This really isn’t the time to be considering these things; they have a test in fifteen minutes, and lord knows that Yoneya needs to use that time to the maximum capacity.

Still, when Kouhei turns to Yoneya, full of determination to tell him that he’s fine and they should keep studying, he falters. He falters because Yoneya is outright staring at Kouhei, mouth half-upturned like he’s fond, like he’s endeared, and Kouhei feels like his heart is getting run through again and again with a spear. His heart is a fucking pincushion right now, and as always, Yoneya Yousuke is as efficient as he his merciless.

Looking away, well aware that every second he spends flustered and embarrassed is a second wasted, he says “Come on, our test is soon,”

Yoneya sighs, dramatic, but returns to the problem at hand. Kouhei tries to steel himself and pull it together, resolving to worry about his schoolwork first, and then deal with everything else when he has the time.

He’s got to keep it together. He can’t just rush into this, he needs to figure out a plan.

* * *

After school ends and they’ve commiserated over how the test went, the two of them walk home. The sun is still high in the sky, and they don’t need to discuss it; they’re both heading on the route that takes them to the arcade. It cuts through a park nearby, and as they walk through it, Kouhei can’t help but stare. Yoneya’s posture is relaxed and his eyes are closed as he walks with his hands behind his head, going on about the test or battle tactics or icecream flavours, Kouhei isn’t sure. He can’t really hear anything over the sound of his blood rushing.

The sight of Yoneya in the sun, surrounded by green and blue and green, is as good as it might ever get. Kouhei, in that moment, dives in headfirst.

He says “Hey, Yoneya?”

Yoneya turns to look at him, and in that moment, Kouhei presses their lips together.

It's a quick kiss. Kouhei feels a little bad for taking Yoneya by surprise, but when he pulls back the confused expression on Yoneya's face almost makes his heart burst. In a good way.

Nobody really catches Yoneya off guard—but Kouhei, it seems.

Yoneya finds his bearings quickly, and opens his mouth to say something.

Kouhei stops him before he can with “Yoneya Yousuke.”

Yoneya’s rendered silent. Kouhei relishes in the sound for a second, because it's pretty fucking rare.

Then, he says “Go out with me.” And because he's ridiculous and dramatic and in love, he continues. “You buy me food without me even asking, and I would let you copy off all my tests if the teachers didn't put us on different sides of the room, and I think we should go out.”

Yoneya is silent for a while after that, but Kouhei knows that Yoneya has his back just as he has Yoneya’s, so he isn’t afraid. He simply waits, and watches it all connect in Yoneya’s gaze.

Then, Yoneya is grinning, an image made sweeter by the few moments of wait. Kouhei grins back.

Yoneya says “That’s the best idea you've had,” and then he pauses, and adds “You didn’t think that through at all, did you?”

Kouhei is guilty as charged, so he just grins harder and shrugs.

Yoneya says “Unbelievable,” and then he’s stepping closer, a hand fisting at Kouhei’s collar. He pulls Kouhei closer, both reckless and gentle, and says “Let me show you how it’s really done,”

Then, he kisses Kouhei. He kisses Kouhei, who lets himself be pulled into the motion without fight. He kisses Kouhei in the middle of the park, surrounded and sheltered by trees and gazebos and bushes. He kisses Kouhei, and they do not stop kissing for a while.

Making the most of the time. Rushing in headlong. It’s everything they do best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> final chapter will be up tomorrow! hope u enjoyed the ride so far


	7. friday

They walk into Border with Yousuke’s arm around Izumi’s shoulder. 

They don’t actually mean to make a scene; neither of them fully pick up on the fact that they’re doing it at all. They’ve become extremely comfortable in each other’s spaces in the past twenty-four hours, even moreso than usual, and now the casual intimacy doesn’t cross their minds at all.

They’re deep in discussion about the latest episode of their favourite show last night when they get snuck up on.

“ _ Yoneyan-senpai? Izumin-senpai? _ ” Midorikawa crows. He runs up to them and draws the attention of several other people, making Yousuke and Izumi freeze. Midorikawa’s got the expression he gets when he figures something out about the enemy; a blind spot, an opening. 

So it’s a showdown to be had, then.

“Hey,” Izumi calls. Yousuke waves at him with the arm around Izumi’s shoulder. 

Okay, maybe he’s showing off a  _ little _ . 

Midorikawa narrows his eyes. 

Yousuke has no intention of moving, and Izumi doesn’t seem to either; he just stays leant into Yousuke’s side, head tilted to the point of almost tipping over onto Yousuke’s shoulder. This pleases Yousuke more than he expects it would; he almost assumed the two of them would be a little jumpier about it all during the first few days. 

Midorikawa finally huffs “I better be the first person you’ve told,”. He’s pouting, like he’s offended at the mere thought.

“We haven’t told anybody officially,” Yousuke says, trying to keep the amused smile off his face.

“Then tell me officially now! I’m gonna be super mad if I’m not the first!”

Yousuke looks over at Izumi, who looks just indulgently pleased. He shrugs when they make eye contact, telling Yousuke to go on.

The words seem to slide off of Yousuke’s tongue, and he says “The bullet fool and I are dating,”. 

Saying it aloud is thrilling unlike any battle he’s ever been in, yet it seems to lack any impact, any climax. It almost feels like an expected conclusion. A predicted outcome. Usually, Yousuke hates to be predictable but… he doesn’t mind that this one was a long time coming.

Just to rub it in, Midorikawa snorts and says “Took you guys long enough!” 

Izumi is already laughing and rolling his eyes, going “Yeah, yeah, we know,”. The casual way he treats the subject somehow makes Yousuke’s heart flip; it feels like they’ve been doing this for ages now, like it’s old news. It feels comfortable in a way that makes him grin hard, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face unprompted.

His expression catches Midorikawa’s eye, who wrinkles his nose and groans.

“Gross,” he says, “you’re so sappy,”

Izumi turns his head enough to catch Yousuke’s smile, and then he’s grinning too, and they’re grinning at each other. Midorikawa  _ boos _ , but he’s smiling too.

Yousuke feels buoyant, lost in the moment.

Then, a familiar figure walks through the doors of the general lobby. Yousuke’s gaze catches him instantly.

Even if Shuuji is trying to be subtle, he isn’t. At least, not to Yousuke. Shuuji stiffens instantly, and Yousuke feels himself follow; their eyes don’t meet, but Yousuke is looking at Shuuji and Shuuji is looking at Yousuke.

Looking at Yousuke, arm wrapped around Izumi’s shoulders, leaning into his side.

Before Yousuke can really figure out how to react, because it’s obvious they’ve both seen each other, Shuuji turns around and abruptly storms out. 

Yousuke moves on instinct; he’s removing his arm around Izumi and taking a step forward, reaching out to Shuuji.

“Hey, Shuuji, wait!” Yousuke calls. Shuuji is within range of hearing, but he keeps walking anyway, leaving the lobby entirely. Yousuke bites his lip, feeling the cold rush through him all at once.

Despite how common it is, Yousuke has never gotten used to the sight of Shuuji’s back being turned. He’s turned his back on a lot of things, sure, but never Yousuke.

Retracting his outstretched hand, Yousuke turns back to his prior crowd. He meets Izumi’s eyes. 

Then he realizes, perhaps belatedly, that he should be thinking his decisions through a little more.

Izumi has a strange look on his face. He’s halfway between a smile and something else, something Yousuke can’t place. Midorikawa is looking between the two of them, looking like he knows it’s none of his business.

Izumi, because he’s always the one to make the first move, says “Yoneya, come to the vending machine with me,”

Midorikawa knows an out when he sees it, and then he’s rushing his goodbyes and rushing away, leaving just Izumi, Yousuke, and the sinking feeling in Yousuke’s stomach.

See, Yousuke may have tunnel vision, but he isn’t completely oblivious. It took Izumi asking him out to realize that all this time he’s been deep in feelings for Izumi, but he still put it all together, and quickly. He’s adaptable and quick on the uptake when it shows itself.

So he knows now, after seeing Shuuji, that he has a problem.

Izumi is still giving him that look. Yousuke recognizes it vaguely now as anger, which isn’t a good sign, but it’s tempered by something else as well. Hopefully it’s tempered by Izumi’s enduring and patient love for Yousuke, because it’s going to take a great deal of endurance and patience to put up with what Yousuke is about to tell him.

Then, Yousuke gets a better look at Izumi. 

Izumi isn’t looking at him anymore, which makes reading him harder, but there’s something else. They stop in front of the vending machine and Izumi glances across, which is enough of an opportunity for Yousuke.

He narrows his eyes, and something flickers across Izumi’s face. 

Yousuke belatedly recognizes it as amusement.

“You knew,” accuses Yousuke.

The amusement solidifies on Izumi’s face. The anger and the happiness don’t go away either, so it’s a lot of conflict for one expression to hold, but Izumi pulls it off. At least, Yousuke thinks he does. But of course Yousuke thinks he does.

“Yoneya,” Izumi says, with a sigh, “You’re not subtle,”

Yousuke wasn’t subtle with Izumi. Now that he thinks about it, he wasn’t subtle with Shuuji either. It’s kind of ridiculous that he never noticed. This whole thing, really, is kind of ridiculous.

Still, he doesn’t like the way the anger, only just removed from hurt, sits on Izumi’s face, so he goes to make amends.

“I’m sorry,” Yousuke says. “I guess I didn’t— I didn’t think this through,”

Izumi snorts. “When do you ever think things through?” he says, accompanied with a roll of his eyes.

Yousuke, unable to stop himself from making a smart comment in any situation, raises an eyebrow and says “Glass houses. Stones. Etcetera."

Izumi smiles at that. It’s still tempered by all of that anger and hurt, but it’s better, it’s  _ something _ .

Emboldened, Yousuke smiles and says “That’s just how we are, huh? You take the first shot, and we improvise from there,”

It’s reminiscent of a million conversations they’ve had beforehand, and a million conversations they’ll probably go on to have.

There’s a light in Izumi’s eyes. It’s a warning and a temptation both, and Yousuke trusts his instincts enough to try and navigate through it. Time to improvise.

Izumi says “Honestly, I knew you liked him. Even before I knew I liked you,”. 

Yousuke feels the embarrassment descend on him all at once at hearing that, but he has to power through it. “You were super envious, weren’t you?” he teases, testing the boundaries of this weird thing they have.

Izumi scowls, but there’s no true hostility behind it. “I don’t care that you like him too,”

Yousuke raises his eyebrows at Izumi and waits it out.

Izumi groans and scowls again, and spits “Okay, I care a  _ little _ . But I’m still the one you’re dating. And I can tell by the dumb look you get on your face sometimes that you’re over the moon for me, so I can live with it,”

Yousuke doesn’t know whether he should be offended or flattered by that. Izumi isn’t  _ wrong _ , because Yousuke feels more strongly about Izumi than he feels about things like cute puppy videos on the internet, or winning rank battles, or watching his favourite Power Rangers film. Even if he didn’t have the salary of an A-rank Border agent and instead had the income of the average seventeen-year-old, he would still buy Izumi food every day unprompted. He’s  _ that _ over the moon.

And because he’s stupid in love with Izumi, he says “I’ll get over him,”

Izumi snorts. 

“It’s Miwa,” he says, “you’re not getting over him,”

That is unfortunately true, but for Izumi, Yousuke would try at least.

With a roll of his eyes, Izumi waves his hand like he’s batting at a bug near his face. “You don’t have to do that. I mean, I don’t think you can, but even if you could, you don’t have to.” 

Yousuke takes a few moments to be relieved, and then he returns to being worried as he realizes that Izumi won’t meet his gaze. Is he still bothered by it? Is this just for Yousuke’s benefit? 

He asks, “Are you sure?”

Izumi nods. His voice strangely void of emotion, he says “It’s you and Miwa. You’ve always been like this,” 

It’s the kind of levelness that is extremely rare in Izumi, and even rarer when Yousuke is involved. Suspicious. Yousuke’s instincts are screaming.

Izumi makes the mistake of looking at Yousuke, who can read his gaze in seconds. Yousuke narrows his eyes at Izumi, and he manages to stay stoic for about a second before smiling and looking away.

“Wait,” Yousuke says, as all the pieces fit together. 

After all, one of the reasons he and Izumi get along so well is a mutual taste in things; drinks, television shows, battling. It makes a terrible sense. 

Testing the waters, Yousuke says “You don’t,”

Izumi grins more. 

“I might,” he says with a feigned casual shrug. Yousuke feels righteous indignation shoot through him. 

Izumi goes on to say “I guess he’s pretty cute, when he’s showered. And when he gets all intense, it’s kind of endearing. Like a puppy barking at you, you know?”

Yousuke has never loved Izumi more. He’s also never wanted to punch Izumi more. A grin stretching his face, he points out “He’s cute when he’s not showered as well,”

“That’s disgusting,” Izumi says, nose wrinkled. “I can see the point you’re making, but,  _ disgusting _ .”

Yousuke can’t stop smiling. He laughs at the expression on Izumi’s face and doesn’t stop smiling and reaches out a hand, fisting it in Izumi’s collar. He pulls Izumi forward easily and they lean in, mouths pressing together. 

Yousuke is still smiling.

When they break for air, he says “Do you think we can make this work?”

A glint in his eyes and a grin on his face, Izumi mumbles “I’ll start it off. We’ll improvise from there.”

So, after taking some time to unadvisedly make out in front of a vending machine in some random Border hallway where anybody can come across them, they go and find Shuuji.

-

Shuuji doesn’t prove very hard to find. Yousuke knows Shuuji very well, and he’s also kind of predictable when it comes down to it. 

It’s cold on the roof, as it always is. Yousuke has a sneaking suspicion that that’s why Shuuji likes being here so much. Also, it’s always windy, and Yousuke also suspects that Shuuji  _ likes _ how his scarf blows dramatically with the breeze. 

Shuuji is made out of some parts paranoia some parts desperation and most parts anger, so Yousuke knows that he hears their approach. Yousuke shoots a look back at Izumi, trailing a few steps behind him, and Izumi nods.

Yousuke walks forward alone, and he calls out “Hey,”

There’s a beat of hesitation, which sucks, but Shuuji says “Hey, Yousuke,” which is better. At least they’re still on first name terms at this point in conversation.

Yousuke says “Izumi’s here too,” even though Shuuji knows, because he knows it’s important to show trust and openly communicate. He learnt that after stealing multiple pamphlets from the clinic Shuuji goes to therapy at. 

Shuuji nods. He still isn’t looking at Yosuke. His eyes are trained on the horizon, and Yosuke feels a little displaced. Still, it’s Shuuji. Yousuke has never felt anything but brave with Shuuji beside him. 

When it comes to Shuuji; when it comes to to  _ him _ and Shuuji… they’re unstoppable, after all.

He takes the plunge, and he says “The bullet fool and I are dating,”. The words still sound strange outloud.

Shuuji has no reaction, which is a reaction in itself. Yousuke won’t be fooled like that. Shuuji feels  _ everything, _ reacts to  _ everything, _ so the careful way he’s schooled his features now speaks louder than any words.

Shuuji says, softly, “Good for you,”. He sounds like he means it, despite it all. Yousuke feels tender, stupidly in love all over again, watching the way Shuuji pulls himself inwards. For somebody who’s always going around yelling at people, Shuuji is always turned in on himself.

Yousuke comes to stand beside Shuuji, looking out on the vast world. He says “You know, I’m kind of an idiot.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Shuuji replies, no bite in his tone.

“I don’t always see what’s right in front of me. Even if it’s really obvious to everybody else. And my actions don’t always match up with my head, because I’m not completely aware of why I do things sometimes.”

Shuuji frowns.

“What are you trying to say, Yousuke?” he asks, sounding exhausted. 

_ Unstoppable,  _ Yousuke reminds himself, as he meets Shuuji’s eyes. Together, that’s what they are.

Braver than he feels, Yousuke says “I’m saying that I’m in love with you. And that you should’ve probably figured it out. Everybody else kind of has.”

Shuuji stares at him. He keeps staring at him. Yousuke’s world reduces to Shuuji’s dark eyes on his.

Shuuji looks… lost. Utterly lost. He looks like the seventeen-year-old he is for once, thrown and confused and vulnerable, as if he’s the one who just confessed.

He isn’t. Yousuke is. Despite that, he feels remarkably calm. They just stare at each other, searching each other for something, some kind of sign.

Finally, Shuuji says, uncertain and unsteady, “Izumi is right there,”

“I know,” Yousuke says. “He doesn’t mind.”

A bit further away, Izumi cuts in with “Hey, don’t speak on my behalf.” He pauses, which Yousuke knows is only for dramatic effect. “But yeah, I don’t mind.”

Yousuke rolls his eyes. “Like I said. He doesn’t mind.”

Shuuji still looks lost, glancing between Yousuke and Izumi now as if they’re hiding something from him. They’re not. Yousuke is always painfully honest around Shuuji.

“That doesn’t make sense,” is what Shuuji settles on saying. 

Izumi, who has worked up the courage to move closer, snorts. “Yes it does,” he says. “It makes perfect sense.”

Shuuji shoots Izumi a scathing look. “It really doesn’t. He can’t lo—like us both,”

Yousuke catches the stumble, but that’s a can of worms for another day. Another day and like, twenty more sessions of therapy in between. Instead, he focuses on the easier solved problem.

“I can, actually. I do it really well,” he says, reaching out to Izumi. Izumi, like the love of Yousuke’s life that he is, offers his hand up immediately. When Yousuke turns back to Shuuji and makes to reach for his hand, Shuuji doesn’t do anything. He also doesn’t move away or reject it, which Yousuke takes as permission.

Their hands meet, and Shuuji can’t seem to look at anything else.

“Yousuke, what the fuck,” he breathes, still looking away from Yousuke. “It’s not that simple,”

“It is,” Izumi chimes in unhelpfully. “You’re just overthinking it,”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Shuuji snaps back. There’s less heat to that comment than normal, Yousuke can tell. How interesting. He feels like the conversation is being derailed somewhat, but he really enjoys where this trainwreck seems to be headed.

“We’re a package deal now, Yoneya and I. Law of equivalence and all,” Izumi replies, growing more cheerful as Shuuji’s scowl deepens.

“That’s a chemistry principle, not a human one,” Shuuji retorts. It’s a mistake. Yousuke will have to teach him how to successfully navigate conversations with Izumi, it seems.

Izumi grins, cat-canary style, and says “But you see, Yoneya and I have  _ plenty _ of chemistry,”

Yousuke tries hard not to laugh, both at the terrible joke and at the affronted look on Shuuji’s face.

Shuuji makes a wounded sound in the back of his throat, and says “God, shut up,”

Izumi steps closer. Squeezes Yousuke’s hand a little. Makes direct eye contact with Shuuji.

He says, “Make me,”

For a seduction attempt, it’s pretty damn good. Shuuji’s expression twists, going through emotions so quickly that if Yousuke wasn’t trained in the art of reading one Miwa Shuuji, he would miss half of them. He doesn’t miss, though. He sees them all. Watches Shuuji flicker through confusion and then annoyance and then disgust and then annoyance again, all of which pale next to the brief and angry  _ want  _ that shows up halfway through his slideshow of feelings.

Yeah. Pretty damn good attempt indeed. Yousuke can’t help but smile. Izumi is still standing languidly and challengingly in front of Shuuji, and Shuuji is almost leaning into his space in response. Always on the attack, always defiant.

For a second, it looks like something straight out of Yousuke’s dreams, right next to the one where he becomes a Power Ranger and pilots a mecha together with his two best friends—boyfriends?—might happen, but then Shuuji catches a glimpse of Yousuke’s expression.

Busted.

Eyes narrowed, Shuuji snaps “What are you two trying to  _ do? _ ”

He’s looking directly at Yousuke, who won’t back down from a challenge, especially if it’s from Shuuji. He says “Seduce you. Or court you. Whichever one sounds more appealing,”

Shuuji looks affronted. Izumi, stepping closer to Yousuke, whispers in his ear  _ “Busted,” _ .

“You’re—” Shuuji starts. “You two are actually serious about this,”

Yousuke’s still holding his hand, so he uses it to tug Shuuji a little closer, bringing him into the fold.

“Shuuji,” he says fondly, “I’m always serious when it comes to you.”

A bold faced lie. Shuuji scoffs at the same time that Izumi laughs, and when they turn and meet each other’s eyes with knowing gazes, it bodes the best and worst things for Yousuke. His blood thrums with the excitement of the chase.

Shuuji says “This is unbelievably stupid. Just putting that out there,” but he doesn’t sound confused anymore, or angry, or even tired, which pretty much rules out 80% of his emotional output.

Yousuke, grinning and surrounded by the two people he loves most in the world, says “Aw Shuuji, but you love us,”

Yousuke doesn’t expect anything, so when Shuuji actually hesitates before responding, it’s a dream come true.

Eyes askance, Shuuji mutters “In your dreams, Yousuke,” and then Yousuke’s laughing, and Izumi’s laughing, and it feels like it might all just work out. As soon as the three of them figure out their shit, Border won’t know what hit them.

The thrill lights up underneath Yousuke’s skin, like an itch he can’t wait to scratch, and he eagerly looks forward to the chaos the future brings. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, lying, on the 22nd of december 2018: i will update this by tomorrow
> 
> sorry.... i'm the worst lol but at least it's DONEEEEEEEEE this was written while half asleep and absolutely not beta'd but im p proud of it. sorry if it seems rushed. i love these three. goodnight
> 
> donate to me on kofi lads its on my carrd please i need money

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked this fic, please consider donating to my ko-fi! it's linked in [my carrd](http://arashiyama.carrd.co) \- thank you so much if you do!


End file.
